Short takes on marketing, positioning, and growth.
24 April 2026
A decade ago Fractal worked with a solar battery brand whose obvious target market was young, eco-conscious innovators. The data said otherwise. The actual buyers were older, conservative men in the
17 April 2026
Most founders design their ideal customer in a meeting room. That persona rarely survives first contact with the market. Gerard walks through how Fractal uses Audience Discovery — running simple mess
10 April 2026
Getting the first click is expensive. Stopping there is the mistake most B2B startups make. Attribution is messy now: a prospect might find you on Google, see a testimonial on LinkedIn, then watch a
2 April 2026
The "founder disappears for six months to build an MVP" era is over. AI tooling and vibe coding mean a prototype can ship between breakfast and lunch. If the product itself is no longer the milestone
31 March 2026
The PDF lead magnet is dying. AI has raised the bar on what counts as valuable enough to hand over an email for. Gerard argues the modern equivalent is not a document; it is a small tool. An AI agent
27 March 2026
Founders fear that narrowing their audience leaves money on the table. The opposite is true. Using Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation curve, Gerard explains why early-stage products should aim at innova
26 February 2026
AEO and GEO get used interchangeably. They are not the same thing, and the difference matters if you are planning marketing for the next few years. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is a step beyond S
25 February 2026
Door-knocking and referrals are how you find your first customers. They are not a system, and they do not scale. Gerard walks through the seven steps Fractal uses to move a startup from early tractio
17 February 2026
Eventually every founder hits the point where they cannot do the marketing themselves. The next question is consultant, agency, or stay DIY. Gerard breaks down when each makes sense. Consultants work
10 February 2026
If prospects do not "get" what you do, you probably do not have a product problem. You have a positioning problem. Gerard explains the "versus" scenario: position your brand as the ally and pick a cl
28 January 2026
When it is time to bring in marketing help, the instinct is to hire one person internally. Gerard argues that for most startups, an agency is the stronger play. Marketing is not one skill. It is stra
22 January 2026
Plenty of signups, almost no conversions. The instinct is to blame UX, mobile, or the pricing page. Those are rarely the real issue. Gerard's take: the pain point you are solving is not painful enoug
16 January 2026
Ten customers means you have a flicker of product-market fit. Getting to a hundred feels like it should be more of the same, and it is not. Gerard explains why the jump from 10 to 100 is not about a
10 January 2023
Ardacious is a Brisbane AR startup behind Ardent Roleplay, an app that brings tabletop games like D&D to life with augmented reality projections. In early 2021 their ads were not landing. The fix was
